nay

v. t. & i. To refuse. [ Obs. ] Holinshed. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ Icel. nei; akin to E. no. See No, adv. ] 1. No; -- a negative answer to a question asked, or a request made, now superseded by no. Opposed to aye or yea. See also Yes. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

And eke when I say “ye, ” ne say not “nay.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

I tell you nay; but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Luke xiii. 3. [ 1913 Webster ]

And now do they thrust us out privily? nay, verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out. Acts xvi. 37. [ 1913 Webster ]

He that will not when he may,
When he would he shall have nay. Old Prov. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Before the time of Henry VIII. nay was used to answer simple questions, and no was used when the form of the question involved a negative expression; nay was the simple form, no the emphatic. Skeat. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not this merely, but also; not only so, but; -- used to mark the addition or substitution of a more explicit or more emphatic phrase. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Nay in this sense may be interchanged with yea. “Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. (Zool.) A specied of wild sheep (Ovis Hodgsonii), native of Nepal and Tibet. It has a dorsal mane and a white ruff beneath the neck. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Icel. neita. ] To refuse; to deny. [ Obs. ] “He shall not nayt ne deny his sin.” Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The negative side. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Howe'er you lean to the nayward. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]